#chasing home

Who was he kidding? He had enough magic back for a jump the second day but he hadn’t wanted to use it. All his efforts had been focused on trying to tune on Cross’s energy. It had been so faint that the instant he found a hint of it, he had run. Walk fast. His knees still did not want to cooperate. Chime had followed him and they had found a hole to the void Cross must have fallen into. And then he had to teleport to him because he couldn’t find him by just walking around.

He didn’t really know what to think about their situation anymore. His thoughts kept slugging from pain and fatigue and he doubted he was the only one.

“Do you feel anyone nearby, Dream?” enquired Cross.

The tired spirit concentrated and listened, trying to pinpoint any stray feelings that may hide around, not bothering to decipher any he may find.

Ah, there.

“I feel something not too far, we should check that.”

His two travel buddies hummed and followed. 

The more they approached the source, the more the surroundings reminded him of the beginning of their little journey.

Bits and bots covered in a slightly darker than usual dust littered the ground. Dream carefully avoided looking too hard at the ground once he figured out it was another battleground. 

He recognized some of the objects there and he hated that.

Stop thinking, onwards.

However, a sniffle behind him made him slow down and turned.

Chime was clutching something and his soul seized as he recognized it. A battered silver watch with little moons engraved around the quadrant and he knew… He knew that at the back, a poem was inscribed.

His brother was really proud of it… If he remembered correctly, it started with ‘Standing in the dark…’ … Dream could not remember what came next. He hadn’t seen the watch in 5 years.

So that was it. He was no longer a twin. The balance had fallen. Was it why the air was wrong and the ground uneven? Nightmare had relinquished his job as a guardian long ago. He didn’t know if someone else was assuming the duty or anything. But he had told him it would be okay even with him gone. 

And that must have been a lie.

Because he didn’t feel okay. And his brother’s daughter was crying. And his son was not here. And the ground was uneven.

He didn’t stop to reassure Chime. He continued walking, trusting the mechanical process to carry him further.

Further away from everything.

And he didn’t know if the other two stopped for a while and caught up a bit after. But both were now by his side and neither produced any sound anymore.

The ground was uneven.

Finally, the faint path he was following seemed to come to an end and rounding the corner of a barely holding up house, he saw someone sitting on the ground.

A skeleton wearing torn up clothing looked up at him with big purple eyes as their star-shaped tail swished behind them. The stranger tilted their head and after a second huffed and stood up, leaving some distance between them and held their arms in a cautious way.

“Hello..?” threw Chime the other’s way, “we don’t mean any harm, we’re just looking for some help. You are…?”

Somehow, the sight of Chime was what made the stranger perk up. They took a few eager steps towards her and gazed at her with a smile.

“Oh Chime! I’m relieved you’re alright!” they frowned and brought up their hands to her cheeks, “what happened to your face… I don’t remember that..”

Chime recoiled at the gesture and Dream stepped forward, allowing her some kind of shield in case it was needed.

“Who are you and how do you know my niece?”

The other stepped back again and looked troubled, the little crown stuck on his head not moving despite the strange dance.

“Dream. I don’t know… what to think of you… My memories disagree…”

And wasn’t that quite a cryptic answer… Dream wasn’t troubled by the other knowing his name given how much he used to go around but he didn’t think Chime traveled that much yet.

“Answer my questions.”

“I don’t really know… who I am… But Mu likes me enough like that…”

Cross who had sat down for a breather joined the conversation at that moment.

“Where is this Mu and what does she look like?”

The stranger frowned as if deeply bothered by Dream’s partner’s presence.

“It does not concern you Cross.”

“Ok now, stop that. How do you know all our names?”

“I remember! You’re Dream, Cross and Chime.”

The stranger sat down on the dirt and pointed at Cross.

“You’re a bastard that tried to destroy all the world or something before disappearing somewhere and you hate cows and you’re a brother’s thief and stuff.”

They pointed next at Dream.

“You were a guardian and a twin and a rival and a friend and you protected and destroyed and smiled and cried and you’re scary now but still gentle and you’re really confusing to get a feeling of,” they trailed off and their gaze glassed over for a second, “it seemed nice back then…”

Then they pointed at Chime.

“You're Chime, you’re my… You are Nightmare and Ccino and Killer’s daughter. You giggle in your sleep and you like to spoil the end of movies and you refuse to wear anything that’s not cyan or pink or animal themed but you tolerate black out of necessity and you’re stubborn but kind and… and you’re a shiny bell tintinnabulating in the dusk-”

They had to stop when a bone sharp as a knife sprouted right before them, stopping just short of shattering the other’s jaw. A bunch of skeletal hands flickered into view in reaction.

“THAT'S MY PA’S NICKNAME FOR ME, YOU CAN’T USE IT!” yelled Chime.

“I’m sorry… I won’t use it… again.”

The stranger then stared curiously at the hands in the air, as if they didn’t know they could do that.

“Hey,” called Cross, “how old are you?”

Dream froze, why did Cross ask such a weird question?

“I remember many ages… 6. 20. 34. 42. 58. 77. 82. 94. And even above. Which… do I choose…?”

“I’m not asking you what you ‘remember’, how long have you existed?”

“...oh,” the other shuffled a bit away from the still menacing bone before seemingly pondering the question, “14 days… since they fell… and I rose.”

Were they talking to a freaking toddler?

“And how many ‘memories’ do you have? How many names do you remember being called?”

The other quietly looked to the sky and muttered names to the wind.

Dream flinched with each name he recognized but he didn’t really put the pieces together, despite his growing unease, before Cross’ next row of questions.

“These memories aren’t yours, are they? Like these names do not belong to you. You are not them.”

“...I’m not? But I have the memories…”

Cross reached towards the other and slowly tugged their soul out.

“There. That's you. You’re not them. Does your soul match any of the ones in your memories.”

The other’s hands (and summoned hands) came to cup their own soul, it was deep blue with soft borders. Crescent-shaped eyelights turned to full moons. Their voice barely reached a whisper when they finally said something.

“...No, it’s different. It is… mine.”

“That's cute and all but are we actually going to ask them if they can help?” cut Chime.

“Him… I’m not… them. Whatever ‘I’ is…”

“Fine, why are we helping a toddler with his existential crisis instead of moving forward?”

Dream would have agreed a few minutes ago but the information they were getting from the guy truly was valuable. And a bit horrifying. 

Cross ignored the girl.

“How did you get these memories?”

“Sure, let's continue to listen to his majesty’s madness,” muttered Chime.

“Majesty? Is that… me?”

“You got a crown so why not?” countered the teen with thick irony lacing her words.

“Alright… then… I, Majesty, had those memories from… birth. Probably… from the dust’s… leftover magic…? There was a girl too… human? I don’t really… know, sorry?”

“So you got memories from all the fallen, Majesty?” pushed Cross.

Chime stiffened at his side. Oh, she got it.

“...just the ones that fought… nearby.”

“Do you ‘remember’ Chime’s parents?”

“Just Nightmare. He lost sight of Ccino and Killer and I don’t know where they went after or if they went somewhere else at all.”

“So, they’re alive ?” 

Chime hopeful’s tone hurted.

“I can’t… guarantee that… I just don't… have their memories.”

The girl wilted down a bit but the fire in her target-shaped eyelights did not fade. Hope was a dangerous fuel.

“Ok, putting this peculiar matter aside. You talked about someone else, ‘Mu’? Where is she- are they?”

“Oh, just… around there,” he pointed to a green area poking from behind a fallen building, revealing the same light blue ecto around his forearm than between the joints of his tail, “she wanted to… pick up flowers… alone.”

Majesty grinned, showing sharp teeth to the three.

“I can… call her or we can… go.”

Dream considered if it was worth it to stand up to go see that name stealer person (Mu was their daughter’s name and it annoyed him to no end someone shared the precious name).

Cross got up, albeit laboriously and gestured to them to stay.

He walked and Dream winced at how sluggish the steps were. They needed to find a shelter to rest soon. He disappeared behind the corner and did not reappear for a moment.

It was awkward waiting with Majesty and Chime. The girl had elected to rest upon his side, emotionally spent and the ‘toddler’ kept himself busy by summoning and unsummoning floating hands around him. 

When Cross finally came back, it was with a small girl he held onto the hand. Cross had a wobbly smile splattered on his face and a renewed energy in his steps.

The girl was a small skeleton monster that barely reached his partner mid-thighs. She had orange eyelights (he noticed small crosses marking them) and rosy cheeks. A lazy rusted colored tentacle rested around her neck and a metal star dangled from the shoulder bag she was proudly carrying. 

Dream didn’t need to get close to know that ‘Mu’ was written on it.

Now. That was not something that happened.

He must be dreaming or even hallucinating. He must have banged his head one too many times or maybe it was the fantasies of a dying man.

Their missing daughter of 3 years and 4-5 months couldn’t just be waltzing back to them like that. 

But as they came closer, he couldn’t deny it anymore. It was Mu. It was Mu. It was Mu. She had grown so much. She wasn’t even walking yet when she disappeared… 

Mu and Cross stopped not far from them and their daughter pointed at Dream and looked at Cross waiting for a confirmation. 

Cross nodded and let go of her hand. She walked towards him and the rest of the world vanished as he zeroed his attention on his child walking confidently towards him. He attempted to memorize the way she put more weight on her heels, how she kept her hands gripped on her bag’s strap while swinging her tentacle in rhythm with her steps, as if it was merely a third arm. 

She stopped in front of him and he lost his eyes in hers. He missed this vibrant orange. 

An ugly weight kept him from reaching out, reminding him of how poor of a reaction he had had when she went away. A fleeting thought of how they would have to reintroduce her to Mimosa and how it might rip open the amnesia bandage their son kept, because of him.

Mu had no such quarry and patted his cheek with her extra appendage before turning and sitting on his knees.

It was so much, too much. The warm weight on his legs was radiating pure positive feelings and it made him want to weep. He tried hard to contain it and while he managed, if only barely, what he didn’t succeed in dodging was the darkness creeping around the edge of his sight.

Dream’s body decided for him that the best reaction to this whole mess was to slump.

Unconscious.

The next time he came upon himself, he was in a bed, feeling more rested than he felt he had any right to be. Mu was sitting in a corner of the blanket doodling. The sun filtering from the window reached him just enough to make him want to bask into it and never move again. Sloth curled into his soul and he reached for his daughter, sweeping her to his side. Little hands pushed against his face and he laughed as he released her. Mu stayed close by and only moved to bring her notebook closer. 

Dream curled back into his cushions. They will have to rebuild their relationship given he doubted the girl remembered them and must be merely humouring them but she was here and looked healthy. 

They had all the time in the world.

Dream was happy.

A drawing was pushed against his face and he carefully took a hold of it to see it better. It was a fairly simple drawing of several people. The small blorb in the center sporting a yellow star must be Mu, close to her stood several taller figures. The black, the red and the purple must be Majesty, Cross and him. The tallest figure had curling horns and had a big strike across it (a failed drawing?). He didn’t really know who it might be. The medium cyan blurb with cat features must be Chime. 

A slightly smaller figure stood right next to Mu, fully void of features. It was circled several times.

Mu patted the drawing and looked at him with a question in her eyes. 

“That’s a pretty drawing, Mu. You should be proud of it.”

The girl frowned and put her small finger on the circled random figure.

“Who is this…?” Dream thought aloud.

Mu pointed to him, then to her then to the figure. Dream decided to throw some guesses in the dark.

“Is that a friend of yours?”

She shook her head and pointed to Majesty.

“Ok, is that someone who took care of you?”

She shook again, with more strength and showed him the stricken horned figure. Oh.

“Alright, I don’t know, who’s missing?”

Mu looked rather frustrated and got up from the bed and ran out of the room.

Well that went alright.

She came back with Majesty who looked only half-confused at the endeavor. She showed him the drawing then pointed to Dream.

Majesty detailed the paper before looking at him and waving hi to him.

“Mu… asks about… her brother… I think?”

Mu jumping around at the assumption all but confirmed it.

“I see… Thanks, Majesty. Can you go tell Cross I’m awake?”

He nodded and left, leaving father and daughter to talk alone.

“Come here,” he gestured to Mu to get back on the bed.

She climbed and settled herself against his side, not letting him leave her sight during the whole process.

“So, your brother is back home. We’re gonna go pick him up as soon as we’re good enough to go there. But I need you to do something when you see him again, can you do something for me?”

Mu nodded and closed her hands into determined little fists.

“Seeing you again might be a lot for him, so when we get back, I want you to wait for us to call you to introduce you again. And then, you’ll need to be gentle with him. Can you do that for me?”

He wasn’t sure she understood but she didn’t seem to mind the instructions therefore the subject was dropped altogether in favor of messing around with the cushions as they waited for the others to become aware he was up.

Cross and Chime came back looking more alive than before he ‘fell asleep’. The bandages had been changed and were clean. Cross’s eyelights weren’t as fuzzy anymore and Chime stood straight, seemingly unbothered by any lingering pains.

He learned around a meal (finally some monster food) that they had found an intact house full of healing items and nobody to claim ownership. 

The new plan was decided diligently. 

They had temporarily removed the bandages, letting their healing wounds breathe a bit, they’ll put some back later if they bothered them still then. 

Dream and Cross would go back with Mu and Majesty to check on the house while Chime would stay behind and start looking around to see if she could find signs or hints of what happened to the rest of her parents. She had insisted upon it. 

They had only accepted because Majesty assured them there were fewer and fewer voidlings around. The things seemed to fade on their own when left alone.

And because they made her promise to stay around the area so that they could join her easily later in the week.

And then, they went home. Finally putting an end to this horrendous journey.

The three arrived in the field a little worse for wear than they should have been. However, the tension was oddly down a notch. Just one. 

There would still be things to discuss. Later.

Dream didn’t look forward to it. He knew Cross would never accept his choice. But he had weighed it and he didn’t regret it. It had been three days… Cross was injured and blind and he didn’t notice him leaving. It had been maddening to think about. And he had a lot of time to think while waiting for Chime to calm down and get out. His soul still prickled at the overwhelming wave of uncontrolled feelings that swept him after all this time in silence. Hope and despair, before and after sheer fear. 

He couldn’t get home alone. He had to wait for Chime.

Who was he kidding? He had enough magic back for a jump the second day but he hadn’t wanted to use it. All his efforts had been focused on trying to tune on Cross’s energy. It had been so faint that the instant he found a hint of it, he had run. Walk fast. His knees still did not want to cooperate. Chime had followed him and they had found a hole to the void Cross must have fallen into. And then he had to teleport to him because he couldn’t find him by just walking around.

He didn’t really know what to think about their situation anymore. His thoughts kept slugging from pain and fatigue and he doubted he was the only one.

“Do you feel anyone nearby, Dream?” enquired Cross.

The tired spirit concentrated and listened, trying to pinpoint any stray feelings that may hide around, not bothering to decipher any he may find.

Ah, there.

“I feel something not too far, we should check that.”

His two travel buddies hummed and followed. 

The more they approached the source, the more the surroundings reminded him of the beginning of their little journey.

Bits and bots covered in a slightly darker than usual dust littered the ground. Dream carefully avoided looking too hard at the ground once he figured out it was another battleground. 

He recognized some of the objects there and he hated that.

Stop thinking, onwards.

However, a sniffle behind him made him slow down and turned.

Chime was clutching something and his soul seized as he recognized it. A battered silver watch with little moons engraved around the quadrant and he knew… He knew that at the back, a poem was inscribed.

His brother was really proud of it… If he remembered correctly, it started with ‘Standing in the dark…’ … Dream could not remember what came next. He hadn’t seen the watch in 5 years.

So that was it. He was no longer a twin. The balance had fallen. Was it why the air was wrong and the ground uneven? Nightmare had relinquished his job as a guardian long ago. He didn’t know if someone else was assuming the duty or anything. But he had told him it would be okay even with him gone. 

And that must have been a lie.

Because he didn’t feel okay. And his brother’s daughter was crying. And his son was not here. And the ground was uneven.

He didn’t stop to reassure Chime. He continued walking, trusting the mechanical process to carry him further.

Further away from everything.

And he didn’t know if the other two stopped for a while and caught up a bit after. But both were now by his side and neither produced any sound anymore.

The ground was uneven.

Finally, the faint path he was following seemed to come to an end and rounding the corner of a barely holding up house, he saw someone sitting on the ground.

A skeleton wearing torn up clothing looked up at him with big purple eyes as their star-shaped tail swished behind them. The stranger tilted their head and after a second huffed and stood up, leaving some distance between them and held their arms in a cautious way.

“Hello..?” threw Chime the other’s way, “we don’t mean any harm, we’re just looking for some help. You are…?”

Somehow, the sight of Chime was what made the stranger perk up. They took a few eager steps towards her and gazed at her with a smile.

“Oh Chime! I’m relieved you’re alright!” they frowned and brought up their hands to her cheeks, “what happened to your face… I don’t remember that..”

Chime recoiled at the gesture and Dream stepped forward, allowing her some kind of shield in case it was needed.

“Who are you and how do you know my niece?”

The other stepped back again and looked troubled, the little crown stuck on his head not moving despite the strange dance.

“Dream. I don’t know… what to think of you… My memories disagree…”

And wasn’t that quite a cryptic answer… Dream wasn’t troubled by the other knowing his name given how much he used to go around but he didn’t think Chime traveled that much yet.

“Answer my questions.”

“I don’t really know… who I am… But Mu likes me enough like that…”

Cross who had sat down for a breather joined the conversation at that moment.

“Where is this Mu and what does she look like?”

The stranger frowned as if deeply bothered by Dream’s partner’s presence.

“It does not concern you Cross.”

“Ok now, stop that. How do you know all our names?”

“I remember! You’re Dream, Cross and Chime.”

The stranger sat down on the dirt and pointed at Cross.

“You’re a bastard that tried to destroy all the world or something before disappearing somewhere and you hate cows and you’re a brother’s thief and stuff.”

They pointed next at Dream.

“You were a guardian and a twin and a rival and a friend and you protected and destroyed and smiled and cried and you’re scary now but still gentle and you’re really confusing to get a feeling of,” they trailed off and their gaze glassed over for a second, “it seemed nice back then…”

Then they pointed at Chime.

“You're Chime, you’re my… You are Nightmare and Ccino and Killer’s daughter. You giggle in your sleep and you like to spoil the end of movies and you refuse to wear anything that’s not cyan or pink or animal themed but you tolerate black out of necessity and you’re stubborn but kind and… and you’re a shiny bell tintinnabulating in the dusk-”

They had to stop when a bone sharp as a knife sprouted right before them, stopping just short of shattering the other’s jaw. A bunch of skeletal hands flickered into view in reaction.

“THAT'S MY PA’S NICKNAME FOR ME, YOU CAN’T USE IT!” yelled Chime.

“I’m sorry… I won’t use it… again.”

The stranger then stared curiously at the hands in the air, as if they didn’t know they could do that.

“Hey,” called Cross, “how old are you?”

Dream froze, why did Cross ask such a weird question?

“I remember many ages… 6. 20. 34. 42. 58. 77. 82. 94. And even above. Which… do I choose…?”

“I’m not asking you what you ‘remember’, how long have you existed?”

“...oh,” the other shuffled a bit away from the still menacing bone before seemingly pondering the question, “14 days… since they fell… and I rose.”

Were they talking to a freaking toddler?

“And how many ‘memories’ do you have? How many names do you remember being called?”

The other quietly looked to the sky and muttered names to the wind.

Dream flinched with each name he recognized but he didn’t really put the pieces together, despite his growing unease, before Cross’ next row of questions.

“These memories aren’t yours, are they? Like these names do not belong to you. You are not them.”

“...I’m not? But I have the memories…”

Cross reached towards the other and slowly tugged their soul out.

“There. That's you. You’re not them. Does your soul match any of the ones in your memories.”

The other’s hands (and summoned hands) came to cup their own soul, it was deep blue with soft borders. Crescent-shaped eyelights turned to full moons. Their voice barely reached a whisper when they finally said something.

“...No, it’s different. It is… mine.”

“That's cute and all but are we actually going to ask them if they can help?” cut Chime.

“Him… I’m not… them. Whatever ‘I’ is…”

“Fine, why are we helping a toddler with his existential crisis instead of moving forward?”

Dream would have agreed a few minutes ago but the information they were getting from the guy truly was valuable. And a bit horrifying. 

Cross ignored the girl.

“How did you get these memories?”

“Sure, let's continue to listen to his majesty’s madness,” muttered Chime.

“Majesty? Is that… me?”

“You got a crown so why not?” countered the teen with thick irony lacing her words.

“Alright… then… I, Majesty, had those memories from… birth. Probably… from the dust’s… leftover magic…? There was a girl too… human? I don’t really… know, sorry?”

“So you got memories from all the fallen, Majesty?” pushed Cross.

Chime stiffened at his side. Oh, she got it.

“...just the ones that fought… nearby.”

“Do you ‘remember’ Chime’s parents?”

“Just Nightmare. He lost sight of Ccino and Killer and I don’t know where they went after or if they went somewhere else at all.”

“So, they’re alive ?” 

Chime hopeful’s tone hurted.

“I can’t… guarantee that… I just don't… have their memories.”

The girl wilted down a bit but the fire in her target-shaped eyelights did not fade. Hope was a dangerous fuel.

“Ok, putting this peculiar matter aside. You talked about someone else, ‘Mu’? Where is she- are they?”

“Oh, just… around there,” he pointed to a green area poking from behind a fallen building, revealing the same light blue ecto around his forearm than between the joints of his tail, “she wanted to… pick up flowers… alone.”

Majesty grinned, showing sharp teeth to the three.

“I can… call her or we can… go.”

Dream considered if it was worth it to stand up to go see that name stealer person (Mu was their daughter’s name and it annoyed him to no end someone shared the precious name).

Cross got up, albeit laboriously and gestured to them to stay.

He walked and Dream winced at how sluggish the steps were. They needed to find a shelter to rest soon. He disappeared behind the corner and did not reappear for a moment.

It was awkward waiting with Majesty and Chime. The girl had elected to rest upon his side, emotionally spent and the ‘toddler’ kept himself busy by summoning and unsummoning floating hands around him. 

When Cross finally came back, it was with a small girl he held onto the hand. Cross had a wobbly smile splattered on his face and a renewed energy in his steps.

The girl was a small skeleton monster that barely reached his partner mid-thighs. She had orange eyelights (he noticed small crosses marking them) and rosy cheeks. A lazy rusted colored tentacle rested around her neck and a metal star dangled from the shoulder bag she was proudly carrying. 

Dream didn’t need to get close to know that ‘Mu’ was written on it.

Now. That was not something that happened.

He must be dreaming or even hallucinating. He must have banged his head one too many times or maybe it was the fantasies of a dying man.

Their missing daughter of 3 years and 4-5 months couldn’t just be waltzing back to them like that. 

But as they came closer, he couldn’t deny it anymore. It was Mu. It was Mu. It was Mu. She had grown so much. She wasn’t even walking yet when she disappeared… 

Mu and Cross stopped not far from them and their daughter pointed at Dream and looked at Cross waiting for a confirmation. 

Cross nodded and let go of her hand. She walked towards him and the rest of the world vanished as he zeroed his attention on his child walking confidently towards him. He attempted to memorize the way she put more weight on her heels, how she kept her hands gripped on her bag’s strap while swinging her tentacle in rhythm with her steps, as if it was merely a third arm. 

She stopped in front of him and he lost his eyes in hers. He missed this vibrant orange. 

An ugly weight kept him from reaching out, reminding him of how poor of a reaction he had had when she went away. A fleeting thought of how they would have to reintroduce her to Mimosa and how it might rip open the amnesia bandage their son kept, because of him.

Mu had no such quarry and patted his cheek with her extra appendage before turning and sitting on his knees.

It was so much, too much. The warm weight on his legs was radiating pure positive feelings and it made him want to weep. He tried hard to contain it and while he managed, if only barely, what he didn’t succeed in dodging was the darkness creeping around the edge of his sight.

Dream’s body decided for him that the best reaction to this whole mess was to slump.

Unconscious.

The next time he came upon himself, he was in a bed, feeling more rested than he felt he had any right to be. Mu was sitting in a corner of the blanket doodling. The sun filtering from the window reached him just enough to make him want to bask into it and never move again. Sloth curled into his soul and he reached for his daughter, sweeping her to his side. Little hands pushed against his face and he laughed as he released her. Mu stayed close by and only moved to bring her notebook closer. 

Dream curled back into his cushions. They will have to rebuild their relationship given he doubted the girl remembered them and must be merely humouring them but she was here and looked healthy. 

They had all the time in the world.

Dream was happy.

A drawing was pushed against his face and he carefully took a hold of it to see it better. It was a fairly simple drawing of several people. The small blorb in the center sporting a yellow star must be Mu, close to her stood several taller figures. The black, the red and the purple must be Majesty, Cross and him. The tallest figure had curling horns and had a big strike across it (a failed drawing?). He didn’t really know who it might be. The medium cyan blurb with cat features must be Chime. 

A slightly smaller figure stood right next to Mu, fully void of features. It was circled several times.

Mu patted the drawing and looked at him with a question in her eyes. 

“That’s a pretty drawing, Mu. You should be proud of it.”

The girl frowned and put her small finger on the circled random figure.

“Who is this…?” Dream thought aloud.

Mu pointed to him, then to her then to the figure. Dream decided to throw some guesses in the dark.

“Is that a friend of yours?”

She shook her head and pointed to Majesty.

“Ok, is that someone who took care of you?”

She shook again, with more strength and showed him the stricken horned figure. Oh.

“Alright, I don’t know, who’s missing?”

Mu looked rather frustrated and got up from the bed and ran out of the room.

Well that went alright.

She came back with Majesty who looked only half-confused at the endeavor. She showed him the drawing then pointed to Dream.

Majesty detailed the paper before looking at him and waving hi to him.

“Mu… asks about… her brother… I think?”

Mu jumping around at the assumption all but confirmed it.

“I see… Thanks, Majesty. Can you go tell Cross I’m awake?”

He nodded and left, leaving father and daughter to talk alone.

“Come here,” he gestured to Mu to get back on the bed.

She climbed and settled herself against his side, not letting him leave her sight during the whole process.

“So, your brother is back home. We’re gonna go pick him up as soon as we’re good enough to go there. But I need you to do something when you see him again, can you do something for me?”

Mu nodded and closed her hands into determined little fists.

“Seeing you again might be a lot for him, so when we get back, I want you to wait for us to call you to introduce you again. And then, you’ll need to be gentle with him. Can you do that for me?”

He wasn’t sure she understood but she didn’t seem to mind the instructions therefore the subject was dropped altogether in favor of messing around with the cushions as they waited for the others to become aware he was up.

Cross and Chime came back looking more alive than before he ‘fell asleep’. The bandages had been changed and were clean. Cross’s eyelights weren’t as fuzzy anymore and Chime stood straight, seemingly unbothered by any lingering pains.

He learned around a meal (finally some monster food) that they had found an intact house full of healing items and nobody to claim ownership. 

The new plan was decided diligently. 

They had temporarily removed the bandages, letting their healing wounds breathe a bit, they’ll put some back later if they bothered them still then. 

Dream and Cross would go back with Mu and Majesty to check on the house while Chime would stay behind and start looking around to see if she could find signs or hints of what happened to the rest of her parents. She had insisted upon it. 

They had only accepted because Majesty assured them there were fewer and fewer voidlings around. The things seemed to fade on their own when left alone.

And because they made her promise to stay around the area so that they could join her easily later in the week.

And then, they went home. Finally putting an end to this horrendous journey.

************************************************

Final day!

Credits:

They didn’t even know in which universe they were exactly. They had followed Lust without much questions after all.

They took a minute to do a more thorough check of each other.

Cross had lost an arm, had long gashes in his legs forcing him to walk at a snail pace and some kind of acid splashed on his face was perturbating his eyelights’ magic fuzzying the corners of his world.

Dream had a billion micro fractures that were hidden under his goop and felt incredibly weak in the knees for some reason.

Both were beyond exhausted and felt like using their magic for more than existing would permanently dust them.

They needed healing items. And maybe some help.

Cross frowned at the idea.

Healing items.

They approached the field to see if anything was salvageable but almost everything had already sinked in that dark puddle. He carefully tried to touch the liquid and almost fell in it, head first. Only Dream’s hand, pulling on his shirt, kept him from falling into whatever that was.

Why did this puddle act like a hole?

“How did you trip on a flat surface?” Dream was unimpressed by the feat.

“Try yourself, it’s freaky.”

He bent himself down carefully, making a careful maneuver to sit there without disturbing his knees. Once situated he let his hand touch the puddle… and promptly fell forward at the lack of resistance.

Cross was the one to keep him upwards this time.

“What is this- Why does this puddle feel like a hole…???”

They both stared at the thing in confusion for a while and if the next hours were full of testing the phenomenon by throwing random things in it, well, nobody was around to judge them.

“HEY.”

Or maybe there was.

They turned in the direction of the shout.

A few mere meters from them stood a small colorful blur, a teenage girl if Cross could believe the voice. The blur approached slowly and he could now tell it was a human of some kind.

“Stop playing with the void puddle, you’re gonna fall in.”

“Void puddles?”

“Yeah, when the creatures explode they make holes and stuff that go in it do not get out.”

The girl crossed her arms and gazed at them (maybe).

“...you need some help or thing?”

The girl seemed to prefer to cut the chase.

What was she even doing here?

He felt Dream bristling at his side, surely ready to object that they did not need help from a child. Cross snaked his partner’s arm gently, discreetly signaling him to swallow some pride and let him lead the conversation. And, for once, the other listened.

“I’m Cross and this is Dream. Does your family live nearby?”

Arms uncrossed and he wished he could actually see clearly her expression and not just the vague purple colors near where her eyes must be (did she have a black eye?).

“I’m Nada. No, I don't live nearby, I’m still looking for a good place to settle. Before you ask, yes I’m alone and I’m doing more than alright. Now, do you need help or not?”

Cross tugged harder on Dream’s arm when he tried to get up. They did… need help.

“Do you know where we could rest and eat something?”

“Yeash, there are still some houses not too damaged in the town.”

And just like that she turned around and started walking in a direction.

Once they finally managed to get up and follow, she was already but a speck in the horizon and showing no sign of slowing.

So they followed. The whole time Dream complained about the girl, raising his voice louder and louder until Cross deduced that Nada was just fully ignoring him. They never managed to catch up to her, the effort of taking a step took them a lot of energy they couldn’t afford to lose. How did Dream even have the energy to complain still? Cross barely managed to keep his head up and leaned somewhat heavily on the other.

They came across a few of those void puddles and he idly wondered if it truly led to the Void or if it was something else, a sort of bottomless well. The fact the creatures made void puddles instead of dusting was puzzling. What were they? ‘Voidlings’ ?

They kept walking for a long time.

But finally, finally, they came across houses, most of them destroyed, nothing to be saved from them.

Nada waited for them at the outskirts and pointed to a few houses, declaring those should be good enough. He watched her grumble a bit and massage her left hand.

They entered a house by a hole in its wall.

Cross let go of Dream’s support to follow the walls with his hand. Nada guided them to a corner that housed a couch that was near white from drywall raining on it and they swept it a bit because falling on it. They would not get up anytime soon.

The girl disappeared in another room and whistled a cheery air.

“Can you digest human food?”

“Fine enough,” Dream mumbled back, already nodding off on the sofa’s arm.

Cross mentally swore still. There was no magic in human food. They would satisfy their hunger but it wouldn’t do much for their magic reserves or their wounds. It would even use some more to absorb it.

But they were hungry.

So they ate and then slept.

And the day after, Nada helped them wrap up some of their wounds and they ended up looking more like mummies than skeletons.

In the middle of the 4th day away from their home, they decided to try to plan how they’d manage to return.

The plan so far needed to cover a few points:

-replenishing their reserves of magic either by resting or finding sources of magic

-finding healing items

-finding a way to bypass the barrier they had around their home other than flaring their signature magics (curse their past decision to lock it that heavily)

-finding survivors that can help?

Nada suggested a few safe paths that when they asked her how she knew it was safe, she shrugged and declared it was an intuition. What a weird kid.

They rested the rest of the day and to their utter dismay had to wait out another night to finally feel “well enough” to start walking again. At the dawn of the 5th day, they asked Nada to come with them and she flat out refused. No amount of arguing made her budge.

And so they parted ways.

************************************************

Shattered!Dream belongs to shattereddreamau

Next day!

Credits:

Cross!Sans belongs to jakei95

Nada is mine

Cross tilted his head, focusing on nearby sounds.

Hopefully, he was alone. 

What could he even do now? What option did he have besides waiting? 

A noise made him twirl around a few times, trying to determine its origin. It faded away.

A jolt of phantom pain among his very real aches made him chuckle darkly. He was barely functioning as it was.

He could only wait and hope.

He did not have to wait for very long, things considered. A shout and a snicker made him turn his head to the right. Obviously, he didn’t see anything but he knew someone must be there.

Multiple someones.

“Hey Cross, I hope you don’t mind I took that long to get to you?”

Relief coursed through his body once he realised it was Dream. With someone that must be an ally?

“Not at all, I doubt I’ve been here for much more than 5 minutes. How did you get here that fast and who’s with you?” 

Cross waved his hand in front of his eyes to gesture he still couldn’t see.

“What do you mean 5 minutes… It took me 3 days to convince Chime to get out of that shack…”

A huff from the unfamiliar person made him lower his attention. Smaller than him?

Now that didn’t seem right, he would know if he spent 3 days here? Wouldn’t he?

“Where are we, uncle Dream?”

…Uncle? 

“We’re in the void, I’d say.”

The void? That would explain the ground. The previous noises suddenly seemed far less innocent, what could be lurking around that strange place?

“Uncle Dream…?” he inquired, because that was the part that confused him the most.

“Oh yeah, that’s our niece, Chime. Say hi to poor blind uncle Cross, Chime.”

A hand found his own.

“Hi. I’m Chime, two of my dads hate you.”

“Who are your dads?”

“Nightmare, Killer and Ccino.”

“That checks out.”

A giggle answered him and he brought his hand up until he found the girl’s head and patted it softly. A niece, uh? When he really thought about it, he might have heard about her at least once… But they hadn’t kept any true contact with the others. He had been aware Dream’s brother fancied his ‘coworker’ and the barista but beyond that…

“How old are you?” he absent-mindedly asked.

“15.”

Ooooh, he truly hadn’t cared much about the others’ business in a very long time. Well, he might as well take things in stride, they had more urgent problems.

He turned to where he hoped Dream was patiently waiting.

“Can you get us back?” Home was left silent, “You ‘ported there, didn’t you?” and after an afterthought, he added as well, “How did you recover your magic in mere days?”

He could only imagine his partner's body language but considering the long silence that stretched before he uttered any understandable answers suggested he wouldn’t have liked what he’d seen.

“I… I don’t have enough left to jump again, I used a lot to locate and get to you. And how I recovered it, I’d prefer to not talk about it for now.”

“He terrorized me when I was finally starting to calm down from being attacked.”

“CHIME, YOU SNITCH.”

Cross ignored the two bantering ‘children’, although he will have to get out the full story later, and focused on the important part.

“Dream, why are you here if you had enough to travel back? And HOW ARE WE GETTING OUT OF THE VOID NOW!?”

Cross quickly decided right there he hated being blind because silence could be hard to interpret on its own.

“We can… talk about it later in private.”

“Oh don’t mind me,” chimed Chime.

“Later I said. Now to get out, well..,” a high squeak came from his left, “lady whiskers here still has her tanks full enough!”

“Are we truly calling my fresh scars whiskers, uncle?”

“Well, they look like whiskers, looks great with your cat hood.”

“Oh. Really?” 

Chime’s voice lilted with a cheery note at the end of her declaration and Cross briefly wondered what was happening there, not for the first time since they joined him in the dark nothingness.

“So can leave now?”

“Slow down Ross, I never did that before. How do you do that?”

“Ross- Wait no, unimportant. How come you never ‘ported before, you’re a full-fledged teen. That’s prime lazy shortcuts shenanigans period.”

“Well, it’s easier to walk? And I’m not usually… alone.”

It didn’t take very long for Chime to get it but Cross couldn’t stop feeling anxious. If 3 days had passed during the short time he spent alone, he was either very out of it (possible) or they were dealing with some sort of time discrepancy (and therefore couldn’t afford any delay). 

He stayed quiet about his thoughts and kept to the ground where he could lay (he couldn’t stand anymore) and strained his hearing to catch how the training was going.

By the time they got out, Cross had managed to focus enough magic in his eyes to light up the tiniest pinprints. Better than nothing. It was still. Extremely blurry.

He turned towards Chime, more or less standing straight, who was panting from the effort, and smiled.

“You did great, thanks.”

The vague blorb of cyan, black and white that was the girl perked up but stayed quiet.

His face was roughly taken by two hands as his partner gazed into his eye-sockets and grumbled.

“Glad you didn’t permanently blind yourself like a dummy. I guess. Please, stay in my sight…”

“Eye’ll try.”

Ignoring his excellent pun, Dream turned his attention towards his niece (their niece?).

“You reopened your whiskers.”

“Stop calling them whiskers.”

A stop and a sharp exhale.

“DON’T TOUCH, IT BURNS LIKE HELL.”

…

Cross then spent a good while scolding Dream for touching an open wound like that and also for not even taking the time to wrap it before coming to get him and an even gooder while attempting to wrap the girls cheeks. It was so awkward doing it with one arm and little to no sight that he left Dream do it in the end. The hazardous wrappings was going all around her head and over her nose bridge. It would have to be redone once they get their hands on some healing stuff.

And then. They continued in this new place.

Their goal seemed farther away than ever but they continued, repeating themself patience would help them if nothing else. The fact they felt they had been gone for far too long kept a certain tension in the air.

The addition of Chime to their group did not help them calm down. He was happy they found her ok, or as fine as she could be after such a traumatic event (it wasn’t hard to guess who (what) must have attacked her and caused her so-called ‘whiskers’). But. Her presence reminded them of the absence of their own kid and it was tearing Cross’s soul apart.

Dream didn’t seem to fare any better now that the light banter had died down and he thought idly that he might be concerned about whatever had been his brother’s fate. While Dream and Nightmare hadn’t really kept contact and they never really resolved many of their disputes, he knew his partner cared still. Enough to keep quiet for a long part of their walk. He couldn’t see his expression any clearly still but he probably looked gloomed.

The long walk (to somewhere he was sure) allowed him to think and ponder but not to ask, not with Chime here. Although, it was hard to keep in some questions. The bigger one he desperately needed the answer to was pretty simple…

Why did Dream go seek him out without checking on Mimosa first? They had healing items at home! He could have rested there then come after! And it had been 3 days, how come he was sure enough he was alive to risk that… Surely their son was more important than him, wasn’t he? 

He mulled over the question and every possible answer did nothing but enraged him.

But he stayed quiet. Chime didn’t need that on top of everything. 

Speaking of Chime.

“Hey”, he reached for her shoulder and almost missed, “how are you holding up?”

Their niece shrugged, dislodging his hand.

“Alright enough, I doubt I’ll sleep well for a while but that's ok. I just want to find them.”

He didn’t ask who ‘them’ were. 

“They locked me in the shed, you know? I wanted to come with them, to help. I’m certainly old enough to put up a good fight…”

He nodded and let her the space to continue if she wanted.

“Then, they left, told me to not make a squeak until they’re back. And I thought… I thought they were exaggerating and being dumb but well,” she hugged her arms, “they all hugged me before leaving and it was weird.”

“I yelled a lot and promised horrors but I didn’t try that hard to get out of that shed. I helped paint that shed when I was a kid. Was very proud of it. I couldn’t wreck it for a tantrum. Maybe they knew that.”

“Hey, I wasn’t even the one who wrecked it in the end!” Chime giggled, “it was those abominations.” 

“I yelled too much and attracted their attention. I heard a bit about them before but nobody told me the important stuff so I didn’t think of keeping quiet.”

“They came when I finally decided to sit it out, against the far wall.”

“Their… hands broke the wall on either side of my face and they- it… Well you get the picture. Then uncle Dream did almost the same thing and I almost skewered him.”

Cross’s mind took a second to register the words as he was still nodding.

“He WHAT!?”

“Yeah, and if you could tell him to stop looking at me like a kicked puppy that would be great.” 

Oh he was so ready to explode.

Keep calm. Keep calm.

Comfort Chime and do not murder the father of your child.

A retching noise made him turn his head just in time to see Chime throw up a thick black liquid on the ground, wiping her mouth with the black part of her sleeves’ sweater.

“Sorry, the build-up was getting too big,” she explained, not looking apologetic at all.

That day kept getting better…

************************************************

Next day!

Credits: